


I Want Some Satisfaction, Take Me To The Stars

by thegirlwiththeprettybrowneyes



Series: AFTG Bingo 2020 [2]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: AFTG Bingo 2020, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - Past Lives, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Banter, Doctor Who AU, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, First Kiss, First Meetings, Gun Violence, M/M, Pawn Shop, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Tentacles, not in a sex way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:06:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25486711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwiththeprettybrowneyes/pseuds/thegirlwiththeprettybrowneyes
Summary: Andrew couldn’t tear his eyes away. “What the fuck are those.”Stefan looked down at him. “How did you see through my psychic paper?”“What the fuck are those?” Andrew repeated.“Karrdolisks.” Stefan crouched down as a beam of blue light scanned its way through the store. “Alien bounty hunters.”“Who are they hunting?” Andrew asked, because it seemed like a more helpful question than whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck?Stefan grinned his one-dimple grin and said “isn’t it obvious?”“You? Why would they want you?”Stefan rolled a coy, mocking shoulder “Well who wouldn’t?”/////////////////////Andrew is a beleaguered pawn shop owner and Neil is an immortal creature, the last of his kind. They meet and everything goes to hell, accidentally.A Doctor Who AU for those who have never watched Doctor Who (and those who have!), where I shamelessly manipulate the lore for my own benefit.///////////Past Lives AU for AFTG Bingo
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: AFTG Bingo 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1810651
Comments: 35
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah so I was kind of stumped for the past lives AU until I binged all the recorded episodes of Doctor who that I had on my DVR and I was like "Wait, this could be something". So yeah. Here's what it is.

Andrew Minyard didn't really believe that aliens had tentacles.

He knew, statistically, that aliens had to exist somewhere in the universe. He knew, statistically, that there was some chance that those aliens would be semi-aquatic. He knew statistically that tentacles were a possibility. But for all that knowledge, Andrew never really  _ believed _ it. Andrew, like many others, was the kind of man that believed in what he could see, and he had never seen an alien with tentacles.

Still, if pushed, he would probably have guessed that semiaquatic aliens would resemble amphibians rather than cephalopods, more like frog aliens than octopus aliens. Ergo, no tentacles.

Andrew Minyard was about to be proven dead wrong.

It went like this:

Andrew woke up every day aching to be somewhere else, wanting to find something that made him feel something and hold onto it like nothing else mattered. 

Currently, two things that had come closest were dangling his feet off of the roof and wondering what it would feel like to fall, and his brief brush with glory in 2005, where he had the opportunity to attend the WARPED tour and foolishly declined. Andrew had no intention of letting either of those be the thing he would build his life around, but he hadn't found anything else, and his building supplies had begun to rust.

Andrew worked in an old pawn shop, the kind of old dusty store people liked to peruse without actually buying anything. His income was meager, but living with three other people and mooching off his dead mother’s life insurance helped to offset the very very little money the pawn shop brought in.

Andrew sat behind the counter and inspected an old, gold painted pocket watch. It was gorgeous but it was badly made and probably broken. It had remained untouched.

Two weeks ago, a man had strolled in, grinning like the sun, eyes wide and smile wider. "A pawn shop. Oh this is great! I haven't seen a pawn shop since the eighteen-nineties! Love a good pawn shop."

Andrew didnt know who this man thought he was talking to, but he had no intention of listening. That was, until he got a better look. The man was, in a word, hot. A masterpiece of a human being. He was tall. Dark hair and brown eyes and evenly tanned skin. He had chosen to mar the artistry of his delicate features with a terrible outfit. 

A garish, ill-fitting suit and lopsided tie made him look like exactly the kind of whimsical idiot that got excited about a pawn shop. He strolled around for a while, looking under old desks and behind shelves like he was playing hide and seek. He looked up and saw Andrew and very conspicuously started pretending to be interested in the store’s wares. He circled once, twice, before getting distracted by the gold pocket watch. He inspected it with an unpracticed eye and brought it up to the cash register.

"How much is this?" He said. 

Andrew pulled a number out of thin air.

"Two hundred dollars." It was not worth half that much.

"Two hundr-  _ Jesus _ ." The man pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can I haggle? Do you haggle?"

This was common. Andrew worked at a pawn shop, haggling was practically part of the job, and Andrew was good at it. He just really wasn’t in the mood today.

"Sure, I haggle." Andrew leaned back in his chair and looked the guy up and down "Starting price is two hundred and fifty dollars."

"What?!"

Andrew plastered on a fake grin "you know what though? You seem like a nice enough guy, and you drive a really hard bargain so I'll let it go at a nice, cool two-hundred."

The man let out an incredulous laugh and Andrew swooned a little on the inside and then immediately hated himself for it. "I’m Stefan. What's your name?"

"Andrew. Minyard."

Stefan grinned and Andrew caught the asymmetrical dimple in his left cheek in full force.  _ Dear god _ Andrew thought to himself. "Tell you what Andrew Minyard, how much time is it going to be until that watch drops down to a lower price range? Say, fifty, maybe sixty dollars? I also pay in favors and bottle caps. I have  _ so _ many bottle caps I could give you.”

“Keep your bottle caps.” Andrew actually considered how much something like this would cost. “If no one buys it in… two weeks, you can have it for fifty.”

“Deal” Stefan grinned. “See you then.” He gave the shop one more once-over before striding out like he had hell on his tail.

The pocket watch was nothing special. Sure it was vaguely good-looking but it was also shoddily crafted and then painted gold after the fact. Andrew wondered what it was that had attracted Stefan to it.

Today marked exactly two weeks since Stefan had walked into the store and Andrew had had exactly 27 customers since. None of which even glanced at the pocket watch. Andrew didn't want to admit that he was awaiting Stefan's return to the store with bated breath. 

_ Ask him out. _ Andrew imagined Nicky telling him.  _ What's the problem? He's hot and he seems like he likes you. Just do it! _

_ Yeah but seeming to like Andrew and actually liking him are two different things _ . Imaginary Aaron retorted. 

_ Andrew you should just do what you want,  _ contributed imaginary Kevin, helpful as always.

The thing was, Andrew never felt like this, especially about customers, but something about this

Like Andrew’s thoughts had summoned him, Stefan ran in. This was the way he moved, it seemed. Quickly, like he was being chased. He was just a natural runner. This time though, there was something in his eyes. Panic. Fear. “Andrew, I don’t have time to explain, but we need to hide.”

Andrew looked at the glass display behind Stefan and saw nothing. “From what?”

Stefan frowned and reached to grab Andrew's arm. Andrew pulled back and drew a knife from his armbands. Stefan reared back, his eyes widening. It was almost an overreaction, but things had escalated very quickly and Andrew didn't really feel like laughing.

"Don't touch me." Andrew said, not bothering to tamp down the fierceness in his voice.

"Fine, fine." Stefan said, almost absentmindedly. He was staring at the knife. "I'd appreciate if you'd put that away."

"I'd appreciate if you told me what's going on." Andrew replied, but put away his knife.

Stefan groaned. “We don’t have time for this.” He pulled out his wallet and flipped it open to reveal… nothing. A blank piece of paper… but also not. It was empty, but also it had… CIA credentials on it, no, FBI. Andrew blinked and tried to make sense of it. “Look, see, you can trust me."

Stefan clambered around the counter to duck behind it, Andrew ducked with him. "There's nothing on that paper… I think." Andrew said "So I'm going to ask you again. What. The  _ hell _ . Are we hiding from?"

A high-pitched scream could be heard from outside the store. Stefan peeked over the counter. "That."

A troop of walking, tentacled creatures walked past the glass display window. They seemed human from the waist down, but from the waist up they were writhing masses of limbs with puckered blue suckers, unmistakable as tentacles. They were holding what looked and seemed to function like guns, but seemed to be designed to look comically menacing. The effect was at once almost laughable and scary as all fucking hell.

Andrew couldn’t tear his eyes away. “What the fuck are those.”

Stefan looked down at him. “How did you see through my psychic paper?”

“ _ What the fuck are those? _ ” Andrew repeated.

“Karrdolisks.” Stefan crouched down as a beam of blue light scanned its way through the store. “Alien bounty hunters.”

“Who are they hunting?” Andrew asked, because it seemed like a more helpful question than  _ whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck? _

Stefan grinned his one-dimple grin and said “isn’t it obvious?”

“You? Why would they want you?”

Stefan rolled a coy, mocking shoulder “Well who wouldn’t?”

Andrew was going to explode. "What did you do?"

"To make them chase me? Exist. People don't exactly like my species these days."

"Your  _ species _ ?" Andrew knew what was going on now. This man was insane. He was a fucking madman and apparently 

"My species, time lords, yes. You're fucking curious." Stefan's eyes flicked up. "Stay down." He whispered.

"That was the fucking plan." Andrew said in the same tone as another beam of blue light "What’s psychic paper?” 

Stefan handed over his wallet. "Shows you what I want you to see. For some reason it doesn't work on you."

Andrew flipped it open "This says you're single and you work out."

Stefan cleared his throat. "Psychic paper. Can't let your mind wander when you're handing it over." He took the wallet back. "Hmm. You haven't dated anyone in a while but you consider yourself to be  _ footloose and fancy free _ ."

"It  _ doesn't _ say that." Andrew said, mortified.

"No, actually the word you used here was  _ available _ . And another…" Stefan's eyes found Andrew's "... _ very _ ."

Andrew cursed his stupid head.

The windows crashed open. Andrew clamped his mouth shut and rolled in on himself to protect his body. He couldn't hear anything except a high pitched ringing and then… burbling. Like the overpronounced bubble sound effects they used in cartoons. He looked up at the dusty shop to see destruction all around, goods scattered about willy nilly. Andrew was running up how much all of this would cost him on his head. He was trying to figure out whether his insurance would cover alien encounters when Stefan started talking to them.

"Right yes, you're all very menacing and deadly. Get on with it already." Stefan raised his arms on silent challenge.

More burbling. "Oh is that so? Well you can tell my father to go fuck himself. He's never going to catch me alive."

A burble.

"What?" Stefan's voice was more panicked now. 

Another burble, then a blast. Stefan had been hit. He looked fine, unfounded, but he had been sapped of all strength. Stefan fell back onto the counter and Andrew leaped into action, he ran out and scooped Stefan up with a strength he hadn't had to use in a while, he ran to the storeroom in the back and locked all the doors. That would buy them some time.

Andrew's heart was beating in his ears. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think. "Are you alright?" What was that thing?"

"Degradation gun. My organs are starting to fail, one by one. I'm dying." 

Andrew's vision went white. He hadn't signed up for this. Nothing that had happened this morning had led him to prepare for cradling a dying man in his arms.

Stefan lay in his arms, weak, his breathing growing shallower. Andrew didnt know what to do. "Hey, hey, shh." Stefan lifted a hand up, not touching Andrew, but trying to soothe him anyhow. It seemed cruel, or unfair that  _ Stefan _ was the one trying to calm  _ him _ down. "It's going to be okay."

"How the  _ fuck _ is it going to be okay?" Andrew gasped out. He grabbed Stefan's hand and pressed it to his cheek, kissed the palm, unsure of how and unable to provide more comfort.

"I miscalculated. Turns out, my wanted poster now reads: dead or alive." Stefan laughed weakly. "Look. Whatever happens from here on out, this form is done for. I'm sorry. But I'm glad that your face was the last one that this face gets to see." 

Andrew was shaking. "What?"

Stefan sighed. "Do you know what happens when a time lord dies?"

Andrew floundered for words and settled on "No."

"Yeah, I was willing to bet. No one does anymore. Lucky you, you're about to find out." Stefan coughed. "I really appreciate the whole 'cradling me in your arms' deal. Very hot, very sweet, but you're going to have to stand back now, dear."

Andrew followed instructions, every cell in his body itching to stay, to follow his instincts. 

Stefan smiled, his head face up, towards the low ceiling. “It was nice meeting you.”

Outside of the storeroom, Andrew could hear the Karrdolisks, banging on the door. They burst in and Stefan started to glow, slowly at first, emitting soft, golden light. Then he exploded into motion, floating off the floor, beams of light shot from his arms, his head, his legs, the light grew brighter until it was blinding. Andrew felt the light warming him.

When Andrew blinked his eyes open, the Karrdolisks were piles of ash on the ground, and standing in front of him was a man wearing Stefan’s clothes. He was shorter than Stefan had been and so they hung limply on his form. His hair was a deep auburn, his eyes like blue fire. His features were fine, delicate. Rosy lips and cheeks moved aside in a crooked smile, dimpled in the left cheek. There was a small gap between his two front teeth. “Okay. What do you think?”

Andrew waited a moment for the words to style in his brain before he realized what they meant. “Stefan?”

“Hmm. Used to be.” The man who used to be Stefan mused. “But now, I think I’m Neil.”

Andrew stared.

Neil looked at the Karrdolisk piles on the ground. “Right. Okay, I bought us some time, but we’re going to have to go soon.” There was another burbling noise outside. “Okay, I miscalculated. We’re going to have to go  _ now _ .”

“What exactly is your plan here?”Andrew hissed

“Step one, sneak out your back door. You have a back door, right?” Neil asked, he was talking a mile a minute.

“Yeah.” Andrew answered, ponting at it.

“Excellent. Step two.” Blue eyes met hazel and Andrew felt a shock run through his body. “ _ Run _ .”


	2. Chapter 2

A lot of things were catching up with Andrew at once, namely the fact that aliens were real and on earth and also the aliens that were chasing him right now. 

Neil seemed to know exactly where he was going so Andrew followed his lead. The street was unrecognizable, Karrdolisk fleets marched their way across the streets, using blue lights to scan through the buildings.

"Why aren't they chasing us?"

Neil's head whipped around as he shushed Andrew, but it was too late, the Karrdolisks were already turning to scan them with the blue lights. 

"They are now!" Neil shouted back. 

A wave or Kardolisks, running eerily in tandem, scanning the terrain around them with their blue lights.

"Karrdolisks have very limited senses of sight and hearing, so before you said anything, they didn’t know we were here.” Neil said, like Andrew should have known that.

"My bad."

"Don't worry about it."

Timelords were apparently better at running than humans, because Andrew was having entirely too much trouble keeping up.

“What are the blue lights?” Andrew called.

“Artificial eyes. Get out of range, and they won’t be able to see you.”

The Kardolisks began to slowly disappear, as they got slowly out of range of the blue light scanners.

Neil weaved through city corners and buildings until finally, the Karrdolisks were gone and Neil had brought them to a seemingly empty warehouse.

Neil shut the door behind them a

"So. You’re an alien." Andrew wheezed

“What, did you think I was lying to you?"

" _ Yes _ !" Andrew said, breathless from the run. "Okay. Fine. You're an alien."

"Yeah. Duck."

Andrew did and narrowly avoided having his face sliced off as Neil pointed some sort of glowing, buzzing knife at the singular octopus alien hiding outside of the warehouse. The knife was too far away to touch it but the door slammed and bolted shut before it could get in.

Andrew looked up at the knife.

"Sonic switchblade." Neil said, snapping it shut and looking entirely too self-satisfied. He turned and strode across the warehouse floor.

Andrew had a thought as he stood up and began to follow Neil. “WHy were the Karrdolisk’s all running together like that?”

“They’re kind of a hivemind. When one gets in range of another, they sort of meld together. Like psychic radio, or walkie-talkies. God, I love walkie-talkies.”

It reminded Andrew of something Stefan had said, that first day in the pawn shop "What happened to Stefan? Where did he go?"

"Well. I'm sort of... him." Neil sighed. "Time lords do this thing called regeneration. We get 12 lives, so if we die once, we get a new body, a kind of new personality, and we try again."

"Which life are you on?"

"Number 37." Neil said flippantly, like he hoped Andrew wouldn't mention it.

"I thought you said you only get twelve."

"Me too. From what I've been able to piece together, that's why I'm being hunted."

Andrew didn't say anything. Until an idea struck him. "Hey, If you're an alien, how come you sound like you're from the midwest?"

"Lots of planets have a midwest." Neil shrugged. He stopped at a blue box. The sign on the door said it was a police call box, but Andrew had not seen a real-life phonebooth anywhere

"What's this?"

"This," Neil said, voice brimming with pride, "is my TARDIS."

"Your what?"

"Time And Relative Dimension In Space. TARDIS."

Andrew frowned and said nothing. 

Neil waited for a response, when Andrew gave him nothing, he said "It's my ship!"

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Cool…"

"Right? After you." Neil gestured to the box, which seemed entirely too small for two people. On the one hand, Andrew's brain was simple and really had no objections to being in such close quarters with Neil, on the other hand, he was on the verge of having an existential crisis and he didn't know if close quarters with a literal alien was going to be the thing to deter it.

Andrew closed his eyes, took a deep breath and stepped into the box.

The box was not tiny.

The box was just a hallway that led into a gigantic foyer. The light was golden, streaming in from some overhead lights that were too bright and high up for Andrew to make out. Descending from the vaulted ceiling was a glassy column, glowing blue. Surrounded at the base by a circular operating station. Covered in bits and bobs and buttons.

A dark hallway in the back seemed to lead to more.

Andrew stepped out of the box.

Neil was there, grinning at him. "Take your time."

Andrew took off around the box, skimming his hand around the four small sides, entirely too small to contain the multitudes inside. 

Neil was inside the towering hall when Andrew came back inside.

"It's bigger on the inside." Andrew said, to confirm.

Neil grinned. "It would appear so." He walked over to a round thing on the wall and opened it to reveal a minibar. "Drink?"

"So you have all this stuff in your spaceship?" Andrew said. He was trying not to freak out. 

He was failing miserably.

"Yeah," Neil looked incredibly pleased with himself. 

"Then why did you want the pocketwatch?"

Neil looked sheepish. "I thought you were hiding the Karrdolisks in your shop. That's why I came in, the first time. The pocket watch was a… distraction."

Andrew frowned. "And the second time?"

Neil shrugged. "I guess I just really liked… that pocketwatch." They both knew what word was supposed to come after the significant pause. Neil grinned his way through a blush. Andrew did not believe that he still had a shot with this literal immortal, gorgeous being.

"So, let me give you the grand tour, this is the console, where the soul of the TARDIS lives." Neil grinned. 

"It's alive?"

"In a sense. And back there." Neil waved a vague hand at a hallway leading back into a dark hall. "Is everything else. Wardrobe, library, swimming pool. That sort of thing."

"Why do you have a swimming pool?"

"Why wouldn't I have a swimming pool?"

Andrew paused. "Fair enough."

"So. I can take you anywhere, where do you want to go?"

"Does it do addresses, or do you need, like, coordinates?" Andrew tried to sound.

Neil smiled. "It does addresses. You want me to park my ship in front of your house?" 

“Um. Yeah?” Andrew had not thought this through at all. 

“Type that address in here.” Neil slid a keyboard around the console. None of the letters were in english. “Ah, shit, sorry. Give the TARDIS a minute, it’ll translate. All right, new face, let's have a look." Neil raced over to a hanging mirror in a small corner of the rotunda. 

Andrew was slowly putting together that running was how Neil preferred to get places. 

Neil inspected himself. He gasped. "I'm short! I mean, not that short, not like you," Andrew looked around the console for something to throw at him. "But that’s quite a few inches off… ooh.” Neil’s hand flew to his stomach. “New spleen. Gross. Wait.” his hand kept feeling around his stomach, he quickly pulled his shirt out from where it was tucked in his pants to reveal inches of scarred skin. Neil didn't seem to mind the raised bumps and slashes because he was singularly focused on his brand new six pack abs. "Oh that is  _ nice _ . Andrew are you seeing this?"

Andrew hoped he wasn't blushing "I am, in fact, seeing this."

"God, I'm such a  _ dish _ now."His eyes flitted up to his face and his smile disappeared.

“What?” Andrew said.

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Neil’s fingers didn’t seem to have received the message, they fluttered to the purple skin under his blue eyes. Even with a new face, he seemed tired. He pulled a strand of shaggy hair down in front of his eyes. “Red. Damn.” Neil watched himself in the mirror disdainfully for a few more seconds before springing away from it like it had never happened. 

"All right, have your address down?" 

Andrew typed it into the now-english keyboard. "How did the keyboard do that?"

"I told you, the TARDIS is translating." Neil absentmindedly stroked the side of the console like it was a cat. “Let’s get going. Brace yourself.”

The TARDIS began to shake before Andrew had the chance. The engines… or what Andrew assumed were the engines, began to emit a creaky, wheezing sort of noise.

Then suddenly it stopped.

Andrew stepped out of the doors. “Neil?”

“Yeah.”

“Remember when you said you’d park in front of my house?”

“What about it?”

“You missed.”

Katelyn, Andrew’s brother’s girlfriend, was sitting on the dining table, enjoying some coffee and staring at the spaceship that had just appeared in the living room. “Andrew, explain.”

Andrew sighed. The thing about Katelyn was, she was the only one of Aaron’s girlfriends that Andrew actually liked. That was mostly because she had done him a lot of favors. This also meant that she was entitled to an explanation. “Alien invasion at the store.” 

Neil popped up behind Andrew and inspected the situation. “Damn it. The TARDIS is always wonky after a regeneration.“

Katelyn raised an eyebrow, presumably at the size of the box and the number of people in it.

“It’s bigger on the inside.” Andrew clarified.

“Riiight.” Katelyn drawled.

“I changed my mind. You have to start paying rent.” Andrew deadpanned. 

Katelyn had been paying rent since she officially moved in, but before that, she spent most of her nights in Aarons room, despite living across town, and Andrew had joked that she should start paying rent.

“Andrew?” Nicky called from somewhere in the apartment. “Andrew’s here?” Nicky came storming out of the kitchen. “Thank god. Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

Andrew was quick to say “I’m okay, Nicky.” before Nicky started fawning. “Where’s Aaron?”

“He got back from work an hour ago, they let him off early. He’s napping in his room. I saw on the news that there were these weird things in the pawn shop. Some people think it was aliens. Aliens, like Kevin’s always talking about when he’s drunk, can you believe?”

“Yes.” Andrew said.

Nicky finally saw the box, and Neil in the living room.

“Andrew, what’s going on?”

“Neil, this is Nicky, my cousin, and Katelyn, she’s dating my brother. Nicky, Katelyn, this is Neil. He’s an alien.”

Neil waved a hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

“We have to get Kevin.” Nicky said immediately, and left to fulfill the aforementioned task.”

“Who’s Kevin?” Neil asked.

“Kevin Day, our neighbor.” Katelyn explained. “He’s an astrophysicist. He loves aliens.”

“No kidding?” Neil said. “I know him!”

Andrew whipped around. “You what?”

“He works for UNIT, I’ve worked with them a couple of times.” 

Kevin banged the door open and stormed in. 

“Kevin! So nice to see you. How’s UNIT, how’s your dad?”

“He’s angry that he had to deal with this shit again. Alex, what the fuck have you done this time?”

“Look, it’s not my fault the heads of the Moriyama Galaxy want my head.” Neil said. “And it’s Neil now.”

“How come every time I meet you, you’ve regenerated? How hard is it to stay fucking alive?”

Neil scoffed. “Pretty damn hard, Kevin!”

“I’ve managed to do it just fine.” Kevin said smugly.

“You’re also 27 years old.” Neil pointed out. Andrew wondered how old Neil was. “Besides, no one wants  _ your _ head.”

“I might.” Nicky quipped.

“Look, the rest of UNIT is trying to deal with this, but the best thing to do is get you off planet.”

“Woah, hey, I can’t just leave the Karrdolisks here, they’ll tear the planet apart!”

Kevin sneered. “We’re more than capable of defending our own planet, Neil.”

“Right.” Neil glowered. “You humans and your big guns.”

There was a tense pause as Kevin and Neil stared off. Nicky cleared his throat.

“Sorry, just back-tracking a little here, they’ll tear what apart?” Nicky interjected.

Kevin sighed. “Can we move this discussion elsewhere?

“You cannot!” Katelyn said. “We’re in this now, we’re invested.”

“This isn’t a game.” Kevin said.

“No one here is acting like it is. It’s our planet too, Kevin. If we have any chance at all to defend it, then we’re going to take it.”

“You don’t have the proper training-”

“And that matters?” Andrew asked. Neil beamed at him. “Look, they had to get here somehow, right, and once they got Neil, they were going to get back to wherever they came from the same way, so we can either send them back, or get rid of their escape plan and take care of them on our soil.”

“Wow. Look at you.” Kevin deadpanned. “Master strategist. Except you don’t even know how Kardolisks operate-”

“Artificial eyes and psychic walkie-talkies, I got the gist.” Andrew said.

Kevin looked at Neil. “Look what you did, you infected him!”

“Look, they’ve got to be communicating over a frequency, right?” Andrew said. “If UNIT can find a way to jam it, then they’ll be cut off, right?”

Neil nodded.

“And if we can find some way to turn those lights off, or block it, Then they’ll barely be able to find anything. They’ll be alone, and in the dark, and easy to pick off.”

Kevin’s mouth was open, but he wasn’t saying anything. Andrew recognized this as his stupid  _ in deep thought _ face. “That actually might work. If I can get my dad to agree, then we might be able to make that the plan.”

Neil grinned at Andrew with something that looked mostly like pride. 

Aaron chose this moment to walk, bleary eyed into the room. “Andrew? You’re not dead.”

“Nope.” 

“Good. Good job. What’s going on?”

Neil grinned. “Okay, let me explain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neil, watching Andrew be smart and competent: God, I hope this doesn't awaken anything in me.

**Author's Note:**

> Commente? Perhaps... a Kudo?


End file.
